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Young Driver AMR keeps championship hopes alive

Published: Nov 29, 2010

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IT Development

The strong performance of the Young Driver AMR-team at the Brazilian round of the GT1-World Championship continued in Sunday’s Champions Race. After the victory in Saturday’s Qualifying race, Darren Turner (GBR) and Tomas Enge (CZE) finished second in the Championship Race in the Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9 at the Interlagos-track at Sao Paulo. The podium finish keeps the hopes for the World Championship crown of Turner/Enge alive, as they now second in the drivers standings, and the only challengers of the championship leaders, when it comes to the last race next weekend at Argentina. Stefan Mücke (GER) and Christoffer Nygaard (DAN) finished 11th in the second Young Driver-Aston Martin.

At the start of the Championship Race, Tomas Enge made the best out of his Pole-Position. The former Formula 1 driver couldn’t relax then, as he found himself under strong pressure from a bunch of competitors. He maintained the lead until the driver change, after a once again brilliant pit stop of the Young Driver-pit crew, Darren Turner re-entered the track in the lead. But the hot temperatures at Interlagos exact one’s toll, and Turner had to defend massive attacks from the second placed Maserati. Eventually the Maserati made his move on the Brit in lap 29 and shoved his way past the Young Driver-Aston Martin. Turner brought the Aston Martin to the chequered flap in second place and maintained his and also the hopes of teammate Tomas Enge for the Drivers World Championship title. With the massive amount of points scored in Brazil this weekend, Turner/Enge move from fifth to second in the driver’s standing, with one race weekend to go and are the only two drivers, who can still challenge the championship leaders.

Stefan Mücke and Christoffer Nygaard started from 12th place of the grid into the Championship Race and eventually finished 11th. After the start, Nygaard lost a few positions, but in the second half of the race, Mücke took the best out of a new set of tires and battled trough the field. After a strong drive, he eventually finished 11th.

With a successful weekend in Brazil under its belt, Young Driver AMR also jumps in the team championship from fourth to third place. Before the final round in Argentina next weekend, the second placed team is only five points ahead of Young Driver. The 2000km journey to Brazil started already Sunday evening for Young Driver, the final race of the inaugural season of the GT1 World Championship will take place at the epic track of San Luis in Argentina next weekend.

Young Driver AMR will be supported at the final two rounds of the GT1 World Championship by Union Engineering (www.union.dk) and Zegg Watches & Jewellery (www.zegg.ch).Driver quotes after the race:

Tomas Enge (#7 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9): „My start was pretty good, but then I had a train of cars behind me, which made my race really difficult. Today it was much warmer then yesterday, that played into the performance of the car and the tires. Our pit stop was once again excellent, but shortly after that, it was obvious that Darren couldn’t defend the lead until the end of the race, as the Maserati was too strong. The move of the Maserati on Darren was hard, but not unfair. We scored many points this weekend, we really didn’t expect this before. We hoped for a top-five finish, but a victory and second place is a really great result. Now are second in the driver’s championship, but for the race in Argentina next weekend we have to carry high success ballast around. In any case we will give our best next weekend.“

Darren Turner (#7 Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9): „It was a really hot race today, in the car and on the track. Tomas start was really good and also our pit stop was just great. The Maserati was a bit quicker then me in the second part of the race, he then overtook me in the slow segment of the track, where we were a bit slow. But second place and the victory yesterday is a great result. Even more as we didn’t expect this kind of result before.“

Hardy Fischer, team principal Young Driver AMR: „The move of Negrao on Darren Turner was hart, but not unfair and that’s motorsport. The entire team did once again a brilliant job, our pit stops were phenomenal in both races. I have to thank our team and drivers for a great weekend. With one race to go, we are now second in the drivers championship and third in the team standings. I hope we will have another good weekend next week in Argentina, our goal definitely the second place in the team championship.“